Justifier indicator



A ril 16, 195% L. E. PALMER I 2,788,881

' JUSTIFIER INDICATOR FIG 1 Filed Jan. 6, 1955 IN VEN TOR.

LEON E. PALM ER ATTORNEY tates ate JUSTIFIER INDICATUR Application January 6, 1955, Serial No. 480,180

4 Claims. (Cl. 197-187) This invention relates to typewriters and more particularly to a space unit indicator for showing the units distance between a typewriter printing point and a predetermined right hand margin position of the carriage.

In the modern business world, an ever increasing stress is being placed upon the production of typewritten copy having a justified right hand margin. More specifically, a justified right hand margin becomes a necessity for (1) production work that is going to be printed; for example, the production of work on paper plates which, in turn, will be run ofi on a duplicating machine and (2) for any business oiiice seeking perfection in its correspondence.

Modern typewriters, such as the well known IBM Executive Model are equipped with mechanisms for varying the unit spacing between words and accordingly, if a typewritten line, when first written, is a few units short or over a predetermined right hand margin position then it is possible to manipulate the space bar when the same line is retyped to add or subtract units of spacing between words whereby the right hand margin of that line will fall at the predetermined point thereby justifying the right hand margin of the manuscript.

Accordingly it is a first object of this invention to provide a mechanism which will indicate in units of spacing, the distance between the carriage print position and a predetermined right hand margin position.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a mechanism for indicating units of spacing to right hand margin which is operable over a predetermined range proximate to the right hand margin position.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a mechanism for indicating units of spacing between a printing position and the right hand margin which indicating mechanism is automatically resettable to its rest or zero position after indicating the units of spacing short of, or over, the right hand margin position'of any line.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an indicating mechanism of the subject type havingilluminating means therein which illuminating means is operable only when the typewriter carriage is operating through the range of unit spacing that is covered by the unit indicating mechanism.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide an indicating mechanism of the subject type which will be disengaged and reset when the carriage moves through a distance beyond the right hand margin greater than that covered by the units indicating scale.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide an indicating mechanism of the subject type wherein a motion magnifying device is employed to make the units of carriage travel easily readable.

Other objects of the invention will be pointed out in the following description and claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which disclose, by way of example, the principle of the invention and the best mode, which has been contemplated of applying that principle.

Briefly, this invention relates to a unit'indicating mechanism' operable in response to travel of the typewriter carriage through a predetermined range proximate the right hand margin position. Movement of the carriage through this range illuminates the indicating scale and moves a pointer across that scale to indicate the unit distance from the printing point of the carriage to a predetermined right hand margin position. The unit indicating mechanism is'automatically resettable if (1) the carriage moves beyond the right hand margin limit of the scale, or (2) if the carriage'is moved to the left and out of the range of operation of the unit indicatingmechanism.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a perspective view ofthe operating elements of the improved units indicating? mechanism; while Fig. 2 is a schematic wiring diagram showing the cir cuit for illuminating the scale when the carriage is within the range of operation covered by this scale.

With reference to the drawings, a typewriter 2 is schematically indicated as having a carriage" 4 movable transversely of the machine in the direction of the arrows along rails, such as the rail 6.

The carriage is provided with an'a'djustable' stop or margin check-8 which is movable along a margin rack 9 to vary the-margin posit-ion of the typewriting field. In the instant situation, the margin check 8 is used to set the right hand margin position of the printing field of the typewriter. The use of the margin check 8 is well known in the art, and accordingly, a detailed description is not necessary. In the following description, in order to better illustrate the operating principle, the margin check 8 is pictured as being engageable with a' fixed stop schematically indicatedas being. positioned on the typewriter frame to prevent-further movement of the carriage to the left. The margin check 8 is provided with a tail i2 having a depending tongue 14 which is the force lever for actuating the units indicating'mechanism, the subject matter of this invention. That is, as the margin check 8 comes within a predetermined number of units of the predetermined right hand margin position indicated by the stop it), the units indicating mechanismis actuated to show the distance between the carriage print position and the predetermined right hand m'argin position (e. g. the distance between the margin check 8 and margin stop 10).

Units indicator The units indicator comprises an actuating portion 16, an indicating portion 18 and some interconnecting means, such as the stringer wire 20, which controls the operation of the indicating portion 18 in response to the movement of the actuating portion .16;

The actuating portion 16 comprises a'hook member 22, a pulley system 24, and a switch 2 6. More specifically, the hook 22 is mounted by a bracket v28 on the typewriter rail 6, which bracket 'has an extension 36 pivotally supported thereon by one of a pair of spaced apart rivets 32, 34 which holds a hook arm 36 in sliding engagement with the bracket 28. (The extension is pivotally supported about rivet 34 so that the margin check can again be moved to theright of catch 44 if the check has been moved beyond it as will be hereinafter described). More particularly, the hook arm 36 has an elongated slot 3-3 extending longitudinally thereof whereby the hook portion 36 can be pulled to the left from its position shown inFig'. 1 with the slot 33 moving along the rivets 32, 34 to guide the'movement of the arm 36 relative to the bracket 28. It'will be noted that the slot 38 has a slanted portion 49 adjacent its right hand end which slanted portion4il acts totilt the'hook 36 and disengage it from the depending tongue 14 of the' margin check 8. That is, as the hook arm 36ispulied toithe left, as guided by the rivets 32, 34, it will proceed in a relatively straight line until the slanted portion 40 comes into engagement with the rivet 34, whereupon any further movement of the hook arm 36 to the left will cause itsright hand end 42 to be tilted upwardly under the influence of the slanted portion 49 on the rivet 34 thereby pivoting the hook arm 36 counterclockwise about the stud 32 (and since extension 30 is pivoted about rivet 34, the hook arm will also pivot about rivet 34) to disengage the actual catch 44 from the depending tongue 14. When the catch 44 is released from the depending tongue 14, a spring mechanism (later described) will reset the hook arm 36 to its position shown in Fig. l.

The right hand end 42 of the hook arm 36 is attached via a string 46 to a pulley 48 fixedly secured to a shaft 7 50 that is rotatably supported in the typewriter frame by some bushing (not shown). Actually, the string 46 is carried from the right hand end 42 of the hook arm 36 over a pulley 52 carried by an extension of the bracket 28. 'Movement of the hook arm 36 to the left in Fig. 1 will cause pulley 48 to be rotated clockwise thereby rotating the shaft 50 clockwise. A wheel 54 having a diameter considerably larger than that of pulley 48 is secured to and rotatable with the shaft 50 thereby acting to magnify the distance travelled by the hook arm 36. The rotation of the wheel 54 is arranged to wind up the string 20 which, as heretofore explained, interconnects the actuating portion 16 and the indicating portion 18 of the units indicating mechanism. The shaft 50 is also provided with a cam 56 which is secured to the shaft 50 for rotation therewith. The contact mechanism 26 which is carried by the typewriter frame is provided with a pair of arms 58, 60 of which the latter is extended for peripheral engagement with the cam 56. The arms 58, 60 carry electrical contacts 62, 64 for establishing a circuit for a purpose hereinafter described. In the position shown in Fig. l, the arm 60 is riding on the flat portion 66 of the cam 56.

As soon as the hook arm 36 is engaged by the depending tongue 14, the pulley 48 will be rotated thereby turning the cam 56 to close the contacts 62, 64 to establish the electrical circuit for the purpose later to be described.

Indicating portion the wheel 54 is connected to a finger 84 of the bracket 76 thereby sliding the pointer 68 to the right across the shaft 78 in response to the clockwise rotation of the wheel 54. The spring 72 which is secured at one end to the typewriter frame by the bracket 86 is carried around the pulley 88 secured to the typewriter frame and connected to another depending finger 90 which is a portion of the bracket 76. With this arrangement of parts, the spring 72 tends to reset the pointer 68 to the position shown in Fig. 1 whenever the hook arm 36 is disengaged from the depending tongue 14 of the margin check 8.

The scale 70 is mounted on the typewriter frame and it is made of one of the clear plastics such as Lucite and a unit scale is marked on its face. Actually, the unit scale indicates a much greater unit space than the actual units of movement of the carriage. The ratio is determined by the relative diameters of the wheel 54 to the pulley 48 in the actuating portion of the units indicator. The scale 70 carries at one end a lamp housing 92 which will direct a light along the axis of the Lucite scale 76 thereby illuminating the markings on this scale in a well known manner. The lamp housing 92 carries a lamp, not shown in Fig. 1, but schematically indicated in Fig. 2 as being operable under control of the contacts 62, 64 which, in turn, are closed by the rotation of the cam 56. r r

In view of the fact that the string 20 which joins the wheel 54 and the pointer 68 may stretch or contract, an adjusting arm 94 is pivotally supported by the screw 96 to the typewriter frame, and the arm 94 is provided with pulley 98 around which the string 25 passes in its path toward the pointer 68. In order to check the position of the pointer 68, the carriage is moved to its true right hand margin position with the depending tongue 14 first having picked up the hook arm 36, then the arm 94 is pivoted about its support 96 until the indicator 74 is in alignment with the zero mark on the scale 70. The mechanism is then ready for operation as a units indicator.

Operation In the operation of the units indicator and after the indicator 74 has been aligned with the zero mark on the scale 79, then as the carriage is moved during letter spacing with the margin check 8 gradually approaching the right hand margin position, the depending tongue 14 from the margin check 8 will pick up the hook arm 36 when the carriage is approximately 24 units of spacing from the right hand margin position, The continued movement of the margin check 8 to the left with the carriage will pull the hook arm 36 to the left as guided by the inter-engagement of the slot 38 and the rivet 32, 34 thereby rotating the wheel 48 clockwise and, accordingly, rotating the shaft 50 clockwise. The rotation of the shaft will simultaneously (1) turn the cam 56 to close the contacts 62, 64 which, as shown in Fig. 2, energizes the light carried in the lamp housing 92 and consequently, illuminates the scale 70, and (2) rotate the wheel 54 which pulls on string 20 thereby pulling the bracket 76 to the right and across the scale 70. At any position short of the right hand margin position, if a word is finished or if a suitable hyphen location is reached, the typist can note on scale 70 the number of units of spacing from the last printing point to the right hand margin position. For example, if the number of units remaining is five, then when she retypes the same line, five units of spacing will be added to the interword spaces so that the retyped line will end at the predetermined right hand margin. If it is necessary for the typist to go beyond the right hand margin position in order to reach a suitable stopping place, the indicator 74 will move beyond the zero point towards the right hand end of the scale 70. Just after the finger 74 reaches the ten unit position at the right hand end of scale 79, the slanted portion 40 of slot 38 will come into engagement with the rivet 34 so that any further movement to the left of the hook arm 36 will cause the latter to be rotated counterclockwise about the rivet 32 thereby disengaging the catch 44 from the depending tongue 14 of margin check 8, and as soon as this happens the spring 72' will act to restore the bracket 74 to its rest position as viewed in Fig. 1 and rotate the wheel 54 counterclockwise to reset the hook arm 36 to its rest position as viewed in Fig. 1. It will be noted that under this set of facts, the margin check 8 is to the left of catch 44. If the extension 30 were not pivotable about rivet 34, then the carriage could not be restored to its left hand margin position. With the pivotablc construction, however, the depending tongue 14 rides up on catch 44 thereby pivoting hook arm 36 counterclockwise about rivet 34 thereby permitting the carriage to be restored to its left hand margin position.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is theintention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a typewriter having a movable carriage provided with an adjustable stop for determining the margin position of a printing field, a units space indicating device for indicating the units of space between the carriage printing position and the margin position comprising a scale, a pointer mounted for sliding movement across said scale, lighting means for illuminating said scale, a hook, means mounting said hook for releasable engagement with said carriage adjustable stop during a predetermined number of units of space of carriage travel proximate said margin position, motion magnifying means interconnecting said hook and said pointer for movement of the latter, and circuit means closed in response to the operation of said motion magnifying means for energizing said illuminating means.

2. In a typewriter having a movable carriage provided with an adjustable stop for determining the margin position of a printing field, a units space indicating device for indicating the units of space between the carriage printing position and said margin position comprising a scale, a pointer mounted for slidable movement across said scale, a hook arm, means mounting said hook arm for engagement with said carriage adjustable stop during a predetermined range of units of space of carriage travel relative to said margin position, said hook arm having integral trip means for disengaging it from said adjustable margin stop after said carriage has moved through said predetermined range, and means interconnecting said pointer and said hook arm to provide for the movement of said pointer across said scale in response to the inter-engagement of said hook arm and said adjustable stop.

3. In a typewriter having a movable carriage provided with an adjustable stop for determining the margin position of a printing field, a units space indicating device for indicating the units of space between the carriage printing position and said margin position comprising a scale, a pointer mounted for slidable movement across said scale, a hook arm, means mounting said hook arm for engagement with said carriage adjustable stop during a predetermined range of units of space of carriage travel relative to said margin position, said hook arm having integral trip means for disengaging it from said adjustable margin stop after said carriage has moved through said predetermined range, and means interconnecting said pointer and said hook arm to provide for the movement of said pointer across said scale in response to the inter-engagement of said hook arm and said adjustable stop, said interconnecting means being provided with a motion magnifying device whereby said scale units are of greater dimension than said carriage units of space travel.

4. In a typewriter having a movable carriage provided with an adjustable stop for determining the margin position of a printing field, a units spaced indicating device for indicating the units of space between the carriage printing position and said margin position comprising a units indicating scale, a pointer mounted for reading engagement with said scale, pointer actuating means mounted on said typewriter for engagement with said adjustable stop during a predetermined range of units space proximate said margin position, motion magnifying means interconnecting said pointer actuating means and said pointer, said pointer actuating means having integral tripping means for disconnecting it from said carriage adjustable stop after said carriage has moved through said predetermined range, illuminating means for said indicating scale, and circuit means conditioned to power said illuminating means in response to the inter-engagement of said pointer actuating means and said adjustable carriage stop.

Dodge Sept. 3, 1940 Dodge Dec. 10, 1940 

